Folding Overpairs at 50nl

Things have evened out for me over the past week, and I have started posting consistent results since an epic downswing mentioned from 10 days ago. As well as trying REALLY hard to put hand ranges to players (with the exception of the superdonks...... how do you put someone on J3s from early postion???) and adjust/refine those ranges throughout each hand, and then each session as showdowns increase, I have started to try and get feels for sets.

Probably my biggest leak in the past was never ever being able to fold AA/KK etc to raggedy flops, despite some nit check raising me on either the flop or the turn. I would try and convince myself a variety of reasons to felt the reply, and usually would end up going broke.

Folding big hands to what seems like a bluff raise leaves a nasty taste in the mouth, but one that has started to take the jags out of my graph.

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HAND 1
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$0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Cash Game, 8 Players
Poker Tools by Stoxpoker - Hand Details


MP2: $50 (100 bb)
MP3: $134.55 (269.1 bb)
Hero (CO): $94.75 (189.5 bb)
BTN: $100.70 (201.4 bb)
SB: $94.05 (188.1 bb)
BB: $34 (68 bb)
UTG+2: $54.85 (109.7 bb)
MP1: $50 (100 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is CO with K K
4 folds, Hero raises to $1.75, BTN calls $1.75, 2 folds

Flop: ($4.25) 7 4 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $3, BTN raises to $9, Hero raises to $15, BTN raises to $42, Hero folds

Results: $34.25 pot ($1.70 rake)
BTN mucked and won $32.55 ($15.80 net)

Just no idea here where i was in the hand. I 4bet him on flop to see where i was. Villain was a 13/10/2.5 over 1.5k hands. I couldn't figure out why he would raise with a set here, unless he was worried about akdd. Only other hand I could put him on would be AQdd where I would be marginal favourite, but then he would have felted the 5bet wouldn't he??

Anyway, I would have gone all in on this hand 10 times out of 10 in the past, and I am not sure I have made the right decision. However my results have improved dramatically over the past 10 days since adjusting this strategy

Every Hand Revealed by Gus Hansen

I started off playing sitngos online, and studied a lot, and even developed a basic formula which did fine for me. But I hated the frustration of having to get your money in usually on a coin flip, at least once in the game. Thats why I currently prefer cash games, where there is far more post flop action.

MTTs are glorified versions of the above, but chip accumulation is far more important than the TAG style I employed in the sitngos. A measured LAG style is what is going to get you deep as opposed to the Sklansky/Harrington style in my view. The blinds will simply destroy you, and you have to go into push fold mode like a sitngo, hoping that you will double up, and then go through it all again (push/fold) a few levels later.

Hansen’s book is a very interesting insight into a LAG style that eventually ends up winning the tournament described. All the commentary revolves around the cards dealt to the author, and the strategy employed therein. Although I do not particulary rate Gus Hansen as a great all round player, I don’t think that matters here. He avoids a load of boring lectures about how he plays no limit, and focuses entirely on the particular situation and opponent, which is why this book works so well. The most revealing parts are where he describes attacking the tight or timid players, and then dealing with the style oof the hyper aggressive and somewhat lucky chip leader on the final table.

Rating 7.5/10

Hand Ranges

Ok, so I have made back my losses from last week, and I REALLY REALLY am determined to practise and then implement hand ranges and player types. I think I am losing the most on turn and river play, by just thinking about the player type and my own cards, and I tend to forget about putting the opponent on a range. I think that is where the fine line rests between a 0.5ptbb/100 and a 4ptbb/100 win rate over 50k hands.

So that’s where my focus will be over the coming week

50nl Downswing

Haven’t posted in a week, mainly due to feeling sorry for myself due to two awful sessions where I lost a total of 8 buy-ins. The problem is, I couldn’t really see where I played that badly, and that scares me a bit. I promptly made 4 buy-ins back, and aim to make the next 4 over the next couple of days. Generally my session pattern is 1 out of 3 or 4 being losing, and the amounts are usually the same, 800-1000hands, 1-2 buy-ins either way. So the graph is up in a healthy direction, until this awful week.

I am not sure what to do about finding out how I cold lose $500 in 1 week. I don’t talk to anyone about poker and I don’t tend to post specific histories, as I play so many hands in a session it’s the stats that seem to be more relevant. But my stats don’t seem to change. Except I have come slightly tighter pre-flop as my confidence became knocked, and haven’t double barrelled. As such I am sure I have been giving up the better hand a couple more times.

My stats currently at 50nl are 17/10/2.6. The reason the PFR is down at 10 is because of my 3bet experiment, (see 3bet post)

Any advice welcome.

Meantime, I will overcome this blip (the first I have had at 50nl) I hope, making the 4 buy-ins, and then take a deep breath and look back then.

I have also signed up to the free poker training using fulltilt points, requiring 7000 this month, to get free access to Cardrunners and Stoxpoker. It’s a good deal and one that I will easily achieve, and since I have never watched any training videos before, I am sure it will do me good.

Finally, I cleared my fulltilt bonus, so now rakeback has accelerated. Just considering whether to bonus whore Ultimate Bet and its very good rakeback/bonus programme.